“Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.”
May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward. The petition for reversal moves from affirmation of past divine action to prayer for future completion of justice. To be put to shame in Hebrew implies public humiliation and defeat; to be turned backward means to be forced into retreat, unable to advance against their intended target. The shift from passive observation of divine justice to active petition suggests that the psalmist believes prayer participates in enacting justice. The collective enmity against Zion (not merely individual Israelites) becomes the object of prayers for divine reversal. This connects personal oppression to the cosmic struggle between God's purposes and the forces arrayed against His chosen city.
Church Fathers on Psalms 129:5
1. The Psalm which we have sung is short: but as it is written in the Gospel of Zacchæus that he was “little of stature,” Luke 19:2-9 but mighty in works; as it is written of that widow who cast two mites into the treasury, little was the money, but great was her charity; Mark 12:42, 44 thus also this Psalm, if you count the words, is short; if you weigh the sentiments, is great....Let the Spirit of God speak, let It speak to us, let It sing to us; whether we wish or wish not…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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